2.2 billion devices in use: this is how Apple cleaned up at Christmas

Apple made a profit of nearly $34 billion during the holiday season thanks to continued demand for its iPhone. In total, more than 2.2 billion devices from the group are now in use. With this record value behind it, the company is entering a new product category for the first time in almost ten years on Friday – with the Apple Vision Pro computer glasses.

With the device, which will sell for $3,499 before taxes, Apple aims to create a “spatial computer” that will allow users to display digital content in their real-world environment.

The Vision Pro records the environment with cameras and displays it along with additional content on displays in front of the eyes. Apple advertises the ability to use the glasses to distribute virtual displays for working in the room, watch movies as if on a big screen or refresh memories using 3D videos recorded with the iPhone .

Apple CEO Tim Cook called the glasses a “revolutionary device” and declared Friday a historic day. The Vision Pro will mainly compete on the market with the Quest glasses from the Facebook group Meta. Meta originally specialized in virtual reality (VR), where users fully immerse themselves in digital worlds. But especially the current Quest 3 model can also display the real environment. The Quest 3 is sold by Meta for $500. The group invests billions in the company, but it has remained a niche market until now.

The largest smartphone provider for the first time

At Apple, the iPhone again drove business in the Christmas quarter, with revenue rising about six percent to $69.7 billion, the company announced after the U.S. stock market closed on Thursday. According to calculations by market researchers, Apple became the world’s largest smartphone provider for the first time last year, replacing long-standing leader Samsung. In Western Europe, among other places, iPhone sales reached a record high last quarter, according to CFO Luca Maestri.

However, Apple was very cautious in its forecasts for the current quarter. CFO Maestri pointed out that pent-up demand due to a production outage for the iPhone 14 Pro resulted in an additional $5 billion in revenue in the comparable quarter. If you take this out, the turnover remains approximately the same. According to this forecast, Apple shares fell deeper into the red, ending after-hours trading at a discount of almost three percent.

Revenue in the latest quarter rose two percent year-on-year to $119.6 billion. It was the first increase in sales after four quarters of declines. Apple also experienced a sales decline of approximately 13 percent in the Chinese segment, which also includes activities in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The bottom line is that Apple saw profits increase by 13 percent to $33.9 billion.

While iPhone sales exceeded analyst expectations, Apple missed market expectations in its services sector, Mac computers and the iPad.

Seven percent of turnover in the EU

Following a question about changes to Apple’s App Store in the European Union (EU) when the DMA digital law came into effect, the group attempted to classify the role of the market for the first time. Apple generates about seven percent of its App Store revenue in the EU, Maestri said.

According to the DMA, Apple must, among other things, offer app developers the opportunity to offer their applications outside of its own download platform. In this case, Apple wants to charge apps with more than a million downloads a fee of 50 cents once a year for each additional initial installation. Developers can also choose to distribute their apps only through Apple, as before. Critics such as Spotify accuse Apple of wanting to reinforce the current situation. Cook said Apple has always been concerned about privacy and security and wanted to preserve that as much as possible when implementing the new rules.

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday that the new capabilities will not play a role in Apple’s current implementation. According to him, this goes against the EU’s regulatory intentions. “I would be surprised if a developer would go to alternative app stores,” Zuckerberg said. (sda/dpa)